I developed a challenge, and put it on YouTube. I’m also using it to enter into Men’s Health “Next Top Trainer.” I hope you like it!

Here are the movements:
DB Burpee
DB Front Squat
DB Rows

You’ll do each exercise in a “descending pyramid” style. That means you’ll do 10 reps in each exercise in the first round, 9 reps in each exercise in the second round, and so on, until you reach 1 rep in each exercise. That’s a total of 165 reps (55 burpees, 55 front squats, 55 bentover rows).

This is a high intensity, full body metabolic workout, designed to get your heart rate and metabolism revved up. That means you’ll not only burn a ton of calories attempting the challenge, but you’ll also be high metabolically active after the workout, and this elevated metabolism will remain for several hours after the challenge is over (even though the challenge itself should only last about 10 minutes max.)

This phenomenon of raised metabolism post-workout has been called “after burn” by some. What this means is, during your workout (or challenge) you rev up your metabolism and disturb your body physiologically. Your heart rate jumps, your breathing rate picks up, you sweat, you accumulate lactic acid, and your hormonal input changes. After your workout is over, your body use energy to bring itself back down to pre-exercise levels. This is the “after burn” effect. In exercise physiology terms however, this is more appropriately called EPOC, or Excess Post-exercise Oxygen Consumption.

Please comment below with your thoughts on my challenge, if you attempted it, and how well you did!

About ANDY

His interests are injury prevention and helping his clients build strong, athletic, and able bodies through heavy weight training. He believes that challenging but simple programs are the best to help his clients build strength, improve body composition, and boost confidence.